Improvement in car-couplings



H IRAMPLUMB. Improvement in Car-Couplings.

Patented May 23,187L

AMF-Haro-umbmAPHw camxmssumvs's Pnuussn). v

, fication.

5 ,HIRAM" r UMeoF PHILADELPHIA;

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WIL- LIAM D O N, JR.,I- AND EDWARD VAN s, or SAME PLACE.

Lettersl atent No. 115,236, dated May 2a; 1871.

IMPROVEMENT mcAR-couPLmcs,

The Schedule referred to in-theae Letters Patent and making part oi'the same;

, f I,HIRAMIIPLUMB, oftPhiladelphia, county of Philae delphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invent-edan ImprovedOar-Ooupling, of which the following is a speci- Nat'u rc and Object of the I attention. My invention consists of mechanism for coupling railway cu'rs,fltoo fully described hereafter to need minute preliminaryexplanation.

Description of the Accompanying Drawing.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my improved ca'r coupling; i

Figure 2,,aplan viewf; and l Figure 3, a transversevertical section on the line 1'2, fig. 2. l P

,Gene'rdl bcscriptt'on. A and Aare the twocast-iron coupling-heads, one being attached tothe draw-bars a of one car, and the other to the draw-bars of another car.

L intoa recess or:opening, e, fig. 1, in each head, projectsoneend ot a link, 1), which is loosely connected to the headsby a vertical pin, f, the opposite hooked eud otythelink projecting through an opening, t, in the Luther head, and being arranged to cat-chonto' a horizontalfpin, It, so connected to a lever,.E,-t-hat, by operating the latter,the pin can be moved to and fro in i a holeinthehead, and can 'be'so adjusted as to extend acrossthe opening 6,01 to be entirely withdrawn from thesa me. r y, h I

The leveris'hung to a pin on a bracket, m, projecting from the, head, and isprovided with a sliding latch,

, at, which, when depressed, bears against a projection,

12, on the bracket m, andthus locksthe leveland prevents the withdrawal of the pin it from the opening '5 iilglill the, latch is raised and the lever thereby setat I i ert'y.

' twoheads are precisely alike, each being'furnished with the above-described hooked link. D, pink,

and latch-lever E.

j The Iinksare so inclined at the end'that, on moving the cars toward each other, the link of one head will slide over and catclr on the pink ofthe o'therhead,

the two links being thusssiinnltaneously self-coupling. It w1ll be observed, on i-efelring to fig. 2, that the 7 two links :D D are situated one on each side ofand amt equal distance from the central line a: z of the cars. i

certain action of springs.

When the cars are traversing a straight track, and are consequently in line with each other, both links serve as coupling mediums, as the link of one head is hooked onto and in contact with the pin it of the other; but if one of the cars, say that to which the head'A is attached, suddenly passes ontoacurvein the direction of the dotted line '1 fig. 2, for instance, the hook of'the link D will project beyond and be, free from contact with the pin h of the link D, and will cease to act as a drag-link, the link I) being thesole coupling medium, through which the first car enteringon the curve drags the other car after it; and the situation of this link outside the central line a; a: is such that the first ear to enter the curve will have a tendency to draw the other car laterally in the direction of the curve which it has to-traverse.

It will thus be seen that, by the arrangernentdescribed of two coupling-links, they are the means by which one car traversing a curve directs the next car laterally in its proper course.

Owing to the inclined projections of the links D being on the under sides of the same, instead of at the side edges, as heretofore, the action of the links depends on their own gravity, instead of on the un- The mode of uncoupling the cars by operating'the levers E will be readily understood without further explan-atiom i If desired, the heads may be so constructed as to receive an ordinary single link, shown by dotted lines in fig. 2, the said link to be used when one car is pro- :vided with the above-described mechanism, and has a to be coupled to a car provided with the ordinary coupe ling appliances.

A coupling consisting of two heads, A A, each of which has a recess with a'flaring mouth, a horizontal pin, it, operated by a lever, E, hung to the head, and a vertical pin, to which is hung a link, D, having a beveled outer end and av hooked projection beneath the same, all as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HIRAM PLUMB. Witnesses:

GEO; J. MILLS,

G. A. SELDEN.

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